In a slightly surprising turn of events...

I'm applying for EDGE Corps. I'm really excited about it, actually.

My heart is for Japan and Italy. I love my friends in Japan, and I want (want feels like an underestimation) to go back. I love Italy and Italian, and I want (underestimation again) to go there.

However, I remain undecided between the two. Very 50/50.

So, I was sitting there considering this...and God goes, "EDGE?" And I said, "Whoa, EDGE. I haven't thought about that in a while...that's a good idea. You're the best, Jesus."


I want more training here. Also, I have the opportunity with EDGE to do another summer missions trip.


In short, unless I feel very strongly one way or the other (Japan or Italy) by March, I doing EDGE Corps. Oh, adventures with my God. :)

Second post of '09

I just realized my first post of 2009 was about pygmy owls and furbies.


Ridiculous.

So pygmy owls are really cute...

...and kind of ridiculous.

I think I'm in love.

And speaking of love...except I mean horror...I found a ridiculous furby website after I found my old furby. (I've been going through all my old boxes...)

Check it out if you dare... http://www.phobe.com/furby/

Half-Baked Brain Beans about '08

So, hello there. I'm taking a break from Melanie...I haven't finished the next part yet.

Last post of 2008...BETTER BE GOOD! NO PRESSURE!

Naw, it is what it is.

This year was ridiculous. I'm trying to think of all the things that really don't feel like they should have all happened in the same year...

At the very beginning, in January, I went to Edge Preview...and then was accepted to Japan in the middle of the month. Then, I went to MLK weekend with U of A Navs, and started helping Diana with our Bible study.

I went to the regional conference in February.

In March I went to Irvine for overseas missions training. A couple weeks later, I went to California and saw my grandfather for the last time before he died.

In April...I don't really remember what happened in April...I need to check my journal.

In May I freaked out about fundraising, and left for Japan on the 31st.

I was in Tokyo from June until August 8th.

In August I started classes again.

In September...I don't remember much about September off the top of my head, either...

In October we had a Japan team reunion in Irvine (Almost all of us were able to make it. We missed Aiko, though.)

In November I began to apply for after graduation things--Japan, Italy, and other Italy option.

December! Today is the last day of December! I finished my second to last semester in college...began dialoguing with a few people about after graduation possibilities...got glasses. That last one's not very important, but I just got them today, so it's on my mind.


Well, I guess some little things are important. Okay, a lot of little things are important. My cell phone's pretty little...and that's important. Okay...not regressing into nonsense.


I didn't have much a point for the month-by-month highlights....just that a lot happened this year. Even when things felt like they were moving slowly, there was a lot happening. And really, God had His hand in so much of it. I need to take a deeper look into this past year, I think.

This post is really not very coherent. There's a lesson here...think before you write.

Another small installment to Melanie Krimm...

The monkey eyed the still much too melancholy girl with a look that seemed to say, "You wouldn't be able to converse with any smelly skunk, either."

Melanie, appalled by the monkey's insensitivity, refused to acknowledge O'Malley's presence for days. He was content to follow her stomps and observe her human habits. She did something strange every morning with a stick, scraping it across her teeth until she was satisfied by her smile. So strange.

"It's called brushing my teeth, O'Malley," Melanie instructed, forgetting her silent treatment. "Oh daffodils! I forgot I wasn't speaking to you. Well, I suppose we must get along now."

O'Malley had no idea what daffodils were, but decided it meant something like "It's delightful to have you here."

That very afternoon, Melanie noticed her older cousins skipping about, making their way into the forest with their splendid skunks. No doubt, they were going to pick bounties of blue berries. Melanie glanced down at her monkey, and definitively decided to take him and introduce him to the Krimm customs.

The monkey stumbled behind a determined Melanie who swung her berry basket with a touch more vigor that day.

They went over hill after hill filled with beautiful bushes of the blue fruit. The monkey had never been quite so dazzled by produce in his whole existence. Though, he did begin to wonder why they had not begun to gather the berries...

"Oh dear, O'Malley! We cannot pick these berries. The best ones are just a little farther..." said the expert, blueberry-picking girl.

Melanie Krimm and her Monk Skunk: A Short, Ridiculous Story...Part I

Once upon a time there was a precocious and slightly melancholy girl named Melanie. Melanie was precocious because she was six, and melancholy because she wasn't seven. You see, Melanie was a Krimm, and every Krimm child on their seventh birthday is given a skunk.

Now skunks are the very best present a girl of the Krimm family could ever hope to receive. You see, Krimm daughters, like skunks, love berries. And as you know, all that a Krimm could ever come to want was companionship while picking their bushels of bright blue berries.

"Stop rubbing it in, narrator," Melanie said to me. "I'm not yet seven, so I cannot enjoy the soothing friendship of a sweet little skunk, and am rather lonely and melancholy whilst picking my berries."

"Well, Melanie, we wouldn't have a story without the hope of you receiving your precious companion, you precocious girl," I half-consoled, and half-silenced the melancholy Melanie.

She moped and she moped and she moped, every once in a while imploring me to narrate in more of a hurry. I always replied that it only depended upon the speed with which the reader reads. She always replied with a precocious "Humph!"

In unfortunate timing for our melancholy Melanie, skunk history now tells us that due to an unfortunate shortage of ice chips in the summer of '96, skunk moms simply refused to have their skunk babies. This both unfortunately and miraculously left no little skunk for Melanie's parents to give to their expectant soon-to-be seven-year-old. I say unfortunately because Melanie was quite extremely disappointed--

"I am quite extremely disappointed!" Melanie cried.

--But I also said miraculous, Melanie. For, of course, the fates had something much better in store for the berry-picking Krimm.

Whilst the skunk moms kept their skunk babies to themselves, the monkey population in Madagascar was experiencing a slightly surprising surplus of silly monkey babies. I say only slightly surprising because every year in late spring and early summer, many new monkeys are born, but this particular year saw much monkey forgetfulness. The monkeys simply forgot it was May.

Hearing of this, Melanie's mom made a beeline for busy, banana-rich Madagascar, where a monkey waited for Melanie. Melanie's mom paid the keeper the slightly surprisingly low rate of $2.54 for the small, gangly, non-skunk-looking creature. Feeling satisfied with her savings, but not quite so excited for her little Krimm's sour reaction, Mrs. Krimm carted the little, wide-eyed monkey all the way home.

Melanie, still sulking, did not greet her mother with her usual precocious vivacity. She sulked over to the couch, and sulked right into the seat next to the monkey. She was sulking with so much intentional--

"I'm not sulking! I'm mourning the loss of all my childhood dreams!" cried the overdramatic almost seven-year-old. "And I'm not overdramatic."

"What's that, dear?" inquired her mother. "Are you talking to your monkey?"

"Monkey?!" exclaimed the half-horrified, half-incredibly-confused Melanie.

With a quizzical look that Melanie barely allowed on her face, she glanced at the non-skunk out of the very corner of her eye. The monkey smiled a wonderfully monkey smile.

"Do you even know what berries are?" Melanie demanded.

Of course the monkey did not yet know this fruit, for bananas had occupied his mind since his birth 15 1/2 days previous. However, the monkey liked her--with or without the understanding that food would be provided. He wanted desperately to tell her that his name was Ivan, but it was to no avail as he did not speak this strange human language--

"I wish I'd known your name was Ivan before I named you O'Malley," Melanie said, exasperated by the language barrier.




To be continued...

slight randomness as an exercise of the freedom that comes after finals

I had my last final exam this morning at 8am. It was ridiculously intense...5 pages front and back of straight writing about 13 different novels we read this semester. I'm glad to be done.

....On a brighter note, I'm really happy I did all that reading this semester. I really enjoyed reading a lot of the novels.

I've discovered I love American Realism...and also naturalism. The Great Gatsby is of course one of my favorite books...and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it again with fresh eyes. I also really liked McTeague, Passing, and the short stories "The Figure in the Carpet" and "The Real Thing" (both by Henry James). Although, I still can't bring myself to fully appreciate House of Mirth...Oh, Edith Wharton...how depressing you are.

Dude. Weiland is also really amazing. And The Scarlet Letter. Okay, I still have yet to read Moby Dick...but seriously...how was I supposed finish that one this semester?!

Anyway...so Liz (my roommate) and I are starting a book club together...and by book club, I mean book couple. I think we're going to start with Jane Austen's Emma, one of my favorites!!!!! Was that enough exclamation points for Austen? Maybe one more for good measure... !

I like the way it looks when there are book titles mixed with writing...the mixture of italics, quotes, and regular text looks interesting. That may have been one of the main reasons for writing this blog. Sorry for the selfish reasoning.



So, this semester was pretty difficult...but I'm actually really excited for the next. It feels like my life is actually moving a little...exciting! I've been doing more creative things...painting, drawing, writing...it's been a nice change. I feel more like myself...less intense.

I also feel like God has been waiting to give me answers until the right time...like now when I have time to deal with them...instead of while I'm worrying about reading (or not reading enough of) Moby Dick.

I don't have answers, really...but more leads--like I'm a detective looking for the path He wants me on...it kind of an adventure! Epic, I hope. I'm excited.

And while I'm on this subject, I would like to outline my Christmas list. For God. Yeah, I know...sometimes it's weird to ask for blessing...you feel selfish. But if there's one thing I learned in Japan, it's that unless God blesses me, I will wither and die. He came that I might have life and have it abundantly...and then freely give as I have freely received. Here are some things I am asking from Him that I can't get on my own:

1. Rugged joy
2. Rugged hope
3. Contagious enthusiasm
4. Love for others
5. A faith that remembers


I don't really have the energy to fully explain these...maybe later. Procrastination...ENFP-style.